Who is Justin Sprinzen?

Justin Sprinzen
Political Science

My regular readers have - without a doubt - noticed the name Justin Sprinzen appearing on the pages of the ACR blog with increasing regularity. Some may even have wondered why this new character wasn't "properly" introduced in the typical ACR manner with a "Who is Justin Sprinzen?" post. Well wonder no more gentle readers, for here is the post you have long been waiting for. (Part I anyway, as Mr. Sprinzen cannot be adequately covered in a single post.)

Justin Craig Sprinzen tried to grow up in Woodbridge, Conn., but only recently has he shown signs of actually becoming a grown-up. While High School may have never ended for former cheerleader Jessica Boulanger, it appears that for Mr. Sprinzen it was college and his frat boy years that he had a hard time leaving behind. That college would be the University of New Hampshire at Durham, which Mr. Sprinzen enrolled in sometime during the 1992-1993 school year. Like many freshmen, especially those from out-of-state, Mr. Sprinzen initially moved into the centrally-located campus dormitory named Stoke Hall.


Stoke Hall, UNH - Former Residence of Justin Sprinzen

Living on the fourth floor, Mr. Sprinzen had a bird's eye view of the campus and surrounding area. Of course, that also means he had a bird's ear, leaving little doubt that the cacophony of weekend parties emanating from nearby Madbury Rd (Fraternity Row) registered in his auditory canal. In fact, all Mr. Sprinzen had to do was walk out the door of Stoke Hall, hang a left on Garrison, walk two blocks, and - voila - he could have had his pick of fraternities to explore, sampling their free beer and whatever other delightful sundries they wished to offer up at rush parties.

Sometime prior to the publication of the 1994-1995 UNH Student Directory, Mr. Sprinzen apparently made his choice. And the choice he made appears to be Zeta Chi, the scandal-plagued UNH frat reportedly founded by Team Abramoff flunky and admitted felon Todd Boulanger. Zeta Chi, as we have previously posted, was the successor frat to Theta Chi, whose former President Shane Tessimond is heading for jail on July 8 for also pleading guilty to multiple felonies related to theft and identity fraud committed while he resided in Washington, DC. And that's just what the DOJ knows - but we digress.

On what basis can we infer that Mr. Sprinzen joined Zeta Chi, even if we cannot pin down the exact date he became a member? An entry from the 1994-1995 UNH Student Directory offers a first clue:



At the risk of being repetitious, the ACR Blog notes that Mr. Sprinzen moved out of Stoke Hall and into off-campus housing at 17 Madbury Rd. The "SO" in the upper right indicates that he is a "sophomore", and the ACR Blog notes that it has blacked out parts of his home address and home phone number out of respect for the privacy of Mr. Sprinzen's family. But gentle readers, the most important thing I want you to notice is Mr. Sprinzen's campus phone number for 1994-1995: 868-3369.

Now let's have a look at Mr. Tessimond's listing from the UNH Alumni Directory for 1995, and gentle readers, please note Mr. Tessimond's listed phone number:



Does anyone think it's a coincidence that Mssrs. Sprinzen and Tessimond appear to be sharing the same phone number at approximately the same point in time? Now my sharp-eyed readers will surely notice that the two addresses do not match up - Mr. Sprinzen is listed at 17 Madbury Rd and Mr. Tessimond is listed at 37 Madbury Rd. They will also recall, however, that Theta Chi (the predecessor frat to Zeta Chi) was located at 37 Madbury Rd, but lost its charter in the Fall of 1992. Many of the brothers, pledging to re-organize as Zeta Chi in January of 1993, reportedly moved into the single story multi-resident apartment building located at 17 Madbury Rd two doors down from 37 Madbury Rd:


17 Madbury Rd, Durham N.H. - Former Residence of Justin Sprinzen

In fact, if we go back just a little bit in time, the 1993-1994 UNH Student Directory reveals which miscreant moved to 17 Madbury Rd from 37 Madbury Rd during this exact time period

The ACR blog notes neither phone number listed above for Mr. Tessimond from his (outdated?) 1993-1994 listing matches the 868-3369 number listed for both Mssrs. Sprinzen and Tessimond in 1994-1995, but in as much as this listing predates the time that Sprinzen moved to 17 Madbury Rd, we do not find this inconsistency troubling. More telling is the match in 1994-1995 for the same time period.

To complete the assemblage of The Three Stooges at 17 Madbury Rd - meaning the addition of Moe (Mr. Boulanger) to this dynamic duo - requires a bit of a leap. For Mr. Boulanger was lucky enough to have never included a campus address in any of the UNH Student Directories - he only provided his home address, which the ACR Blog will not post for privacy reasons. But clearly Mr. Boulanger had a campus address in Durham, as a jury determined that an under-age student purchased beer from his supposedly locked Durham apartment on February 21, 1994, "located in a different part of the fraternity house" as we have previously posted:

In addition, Andrew Strachan, a nineteen-year-old guest at the [Zeta Chi] fraternity party, testified that at some point during the evening he learned that beer was available from a soda machine. He made his way to an apartment in another part of the fraternity house where the machine was located, waited in line with three or four other people, and purchased three to five cans of beer. Strachan also testified that he noticed someone making change for the machine. The fraternity's secretary testified that the fraternity members voted not to provide alcohol at the rush and that they moved the vending machine that contained beer to a separate apartment in another part of the fraternity house for the rush.

Gentle readers, the ACR Blog submits that this scandalous fraternity party was held at the de facto "fraternity house" for Zeta Chi at 17 Madbury Rd. where many of the brothers of Theta/Zeta Chi had moved. The building is designed so that each apartment has a separate lockable entrance and thus is consistent with the description excerpted above from the opinion of the New Hampshire State Supreme Court that upheld the fraternity's guilt on prostitution and under-age alcohol sales. Buttressing this supposition, this now infamous photo of Messrs. Boulanger and Sprinzen proudly posing in front of their achievement in conspicuous alcohol consumption at the 2000 UNH Zeta Chi reunion was taken in front of the dumpster at: 17 Madbury Rd.

What the ACR Blog would like to know is this: Did Mr. Sprinzen join Zeta Chi prior to the infamous February 1994 rush party? Or did he join because of the February 1994 rush party?¹

Be sure to catch our next post in this series: Mr. Sprinzen Goes to Washington.

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¹ The ACR blog again stresses that it has no evidence that Mr. Sprinzen has done anything illegal, either while a student at UNH or during any of the jobs he has held since arriving in Washington DC. We cannot at this point say with certainty whether or not he attended the infamous 1994 Zeta Chi rush party, and even if he did, it was not illegal to do so. So why is the ACR Blog even interested in Justin Sprinzen? The man is an enigma - despite being a central figure in the F Street Gang (which is why we're interested in him), the ACR Blog has seen nothing in any of the legal documents, hundreds of emails, etc that we've reviewed that suggest that he is in any legal jeopardy in the Abramoff case. In short, he may be 100% "clean", but as we shall see, the man would be one heckuva person for the DOJ to put under oath in many of these upcoming cases. Perhaps Mr. Sprinzen is simply guilty of having extremely poor judgment in selecting fraternities as well as friends, drinking partners, and housemates.